5.  The applicant was born in 1962 and lives in Strzyżów.
6.  Prior to her early retirement she had been employed for 21 years at the same furniture factory and had paid her social security contributions to the State.
7.  On 18 December 2001 the applicant filed an application with the Rzeszów Social Security Board (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych) to be granted the right to an early-retirement pension for persons raising children who, due to the seriousness of their health condition, required constant care, the so-called “EWK” pension.
8.  Along with her application for a pension, the applicant submitted, among other documents concerning her son’s health condition, a medical certificate issued by a specialist doctor. The certificate stated that the child (born in 1989) suffered from mild intellectual disability and that he was in need of his parent’s constant care.
9.  On 21 December 2001 the Rzeszów Social Security Board (“the SSB”) issued a decision granting the applicant the right to an early‑retirement pension in the net amount of around 730 Polish zlotys (PLN) per month.
10.  Due to the applicant’s employment the Social Security Board initially suspended the payment of the pension. The payment started on 1 January 2002 when the applicant resigned from her employment.
11.  On 12 July 2002 the Rzeszów Social Security Board asked the Main Social Security Board’s doctor (Główny Lekarz Orzecznik) to inform it whether the applicant’s son required the permanent care of a parent. The doctor stated that, on the basis of the medical documents, the child could not be considered as ever having required such care.
12.  On 20 August 2002 the Rzeszów Social Security Board simultaneously issued two decisions in respect of the applicant. By virtue of the first decision, the payment of the applicant’s pension was discontinued with immediate effect (1 September 2002). By virtue of the second decision, the Board reopened the proceedings, revoked the initial decision granting a pension and eventually refused to award the applicant the right to an early-retirement pension under the scheme provided for by the Cabinet’s Ordinance of 15 May 1989 on the right to early retirement of employees raising children who require permanent care (Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dn. 15 maja 1989 w sprawie uprawnień do wcześniejszej emerytury pracowników opiekujących się dziećmi wymagającymi stałej opieki) (“the 1989 Ordinance”).
13.  The applicant appealed against these decisions. She submitted that she should receive the benefit because her child required constant care, as confirmed by the medical certificate attached to the applicant’s original application for a pension. Moreover, the applicant alleged that the revocation of her retirement pension was contrary to the principle of vested rights.
14.  On 27 February 2003 the Rzeszów Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the applicant’s appeal.
15.  The applicant appealed against the first-instance judgment.
16.  On 19 September 2003 the Rzeszów Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s further appeal. The domestic court held that the applicant had been rightfully divested of her right to a pension under the scheme provided by the 1989 Ordinance as she had not satisfied the requirement of necessary permanent care.
17.  On 4 May 2004 the Supreme Court refused to examine the applicant’s cassation appeal. The Supreme Court’s decision was served on the applicant’s lawyer on 1 July 2004.
18.  Following the social security proceedings the applicant was not ordered to return her early-retirement benefits paid by the Social Security Board, despite the revocation of her right to the EWK pension.
19.  The applicant resigned from her job when she was granted the EWK pension and throughout the whole period of receiving it she did not work.
20.  After revocation of the pension the applicant was unemployed for 82 days without right to any benefit. Between 22 November 2002 and 17 June 2003 she was employed by her previous employer.
21.  Between 17 June 2003 and 1 June 2004 the applicant was unemployed without right to any benefit.
On 1 June 2004 the applicant again accepted a seven-month-long contract from her previous employer. Afterwards she was employed by the unemployment agency with only short intervals. Since January 2007 she remains employed by the furniture company for which she had started working in 1980.
22.  The Government submitted that the applicant’s gross annual income in 2003 amounted to PLN 5,070 (approx. EUR 1,200) which constituted 19.17% of the average salary in Poland at the relevant time.